


Worst Case Scenario

by FleaBee



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Gen, One Shot, Radiation leak didn't kill everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 00:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11279928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleaBee/pseuds/FleaBee
Summary: Rimmer is convinced he is dying when he falls ill not long after doing maintenance outside his experience.





	Worst Case Scenario

Rimmer was trying not to panic when he looked at the contents of his vomit. It was red! He went through everything that he'd ate that day and the previous few day, he had not eaten any red foods recently. His vision blurred slightly wanting to faint as he registered what he had vomited up was blood. He tried to calm his breathing, pushing back the panic that was trying to claw its way to the surface.

He felt weak as he looked around the room for Lister, wanting reassurance that he was seeing things and tasting things, his mouth tasting metallic. He turned back to the toilet, heaving up more blood.

"Oh god, I'm dying!" That had to be the only explanation. Why else would he be vomiting up blood? Or at least it was the only one that he could think of.

He felt too weak to stand. He wished Lister would return to get one of the medical staff for him. He lowered himself to the ground next to the toilet, not even able to make it back to the bed. Feeling weaker by the minute. If he didn't get medical treatment now he didn't think he'd be found for hours.

"Holly," Holly would be able to alert the medical staff.

The computer appeared on the screen above the basin that doubled as a mirror. "Yes, Arn?"

Rimmer was struggling to stay awake as he spoke to the computer, unsure if his voice was understandable. "I think I'm dying. I don't want to die."

"I'm sure you're not dying," Holly told him. "You just have a nosebleed."

"But my nose isn't bleeding," Rimmer felt his nose seeing that Holly was correct. His eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Oh dear, I thought he already knew. Arn, are you alright?" Holly asked a few times, growing concerned as the fainted man wasn't coming to as fast as he normally did.

 

When Arn's breathing changed Holly popped onto the screen of Head Medical Officer Karen Newtons. "Sorry to bother you, Karen, we have a bit of emergency at the moment. I need someone to check on Rimmer."

"What is the problem this time?" Karen asked with a heavy sigh. She was still trying to recover from two days earlier when he'd failed his exams once again, not to mention three weeks beforehand when Lister had fed him Titan mushrooms, and he'd had a breakdown, attacked the captain and needed all his blood replaced, and his stomach pumped.

"He's has a nosebleed and fainted because he thinks' he's dying. He's still unresponsive. Located in his bunkroom on the floor." Holly activated the camera for Rimmer's room showing his exact condition.

Karen stood to examine the image, growing concerned seeing how much blood was coming out of Rimmer's nose. "I don't think I've ever had Rimmer in here for a nose bleed before. The blood is not just coming out of his nose." Karen glanced around the medibay making sure no one had come in while she was talking to Holly. "I'm on my way up."

 

Karen was rerunning Rimmer's results to confirm that the medi-computer was correct. She had him brought in after she'd seen how much he was bleeding from his nose, mouth and the blood in the toilet. The results once again came back the same.

"Holly, connect me to the Captain, I have an emergency," Karen instructed the computer.

Karen watched as the Captain dropped his meal in shock.

"This better be good, I was eating my lunch." Hollister scolded, picking the food off his paperwork and shirt. The Captain hated being interrupted if it wasn't for a good reason.

"Captain, we have an emergency, radiation leak somewhere on the ship. The ship needs to be locked down till we find the source."

Hollister wiped sweat off his face. "How serious is this so called leak? How do you know we have a radiation leak?"

Karen didn't give anything away, calm and detached as she updated the Captain. "It's serious, sir. I have Technician Rimmer in the medi-bay dying of radiation poisoning. There is nothing I can do, he's terminal, he doesn't have more than a day. I have him sedated at the moment."

Captain Hollister knocked his lunch off the desk as he stood up, activating the alarm and locking down the ship.

"The ship is locked down, this is not a drill. Updates will come available as more information is available." Hollister said over the system wide speakers. Hollister ran his hands through his hair as Todhunter and a couple of the other officer turned up at his office.

"Karen, look after him," Hollister ordered. The connection was dead instantly.

Hollister hadn't yet processed what Karen had just told him. Rimmer was dying of radiation poisoning. They had to find the source of the radiation before more of the crew were affected. As it was they were in for a major enquiry. Hollister went pale, two deaths within a week was never a good thing on a mining ship, and if they had more because of the radiation leak, his career was over.

"We have a major incident, radiation leak. Rimmer's dying and Karen can't do anything for him besides make him comfortable. I want to know everything that Rimmer has been doing recently, and this leak found and contained."

 

Karen stopped what she was doing when she heard groaning and moving. "You're awake, how are you feeling?" Karen asked. She was starting to think he was not going to wake, a part of her didn't know if him waking was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Terrible," Rimmer said just above a whisper.

"Do you remember what happened?" Karen sat in the chair next to Rimmer's bed. She hadn't left his side since he'd come in. She didn't want him to be alone, no one should be alone when they were dying.

He looked directly at her, she'd never seen him look so stable in his gaze, so final and at peace. He wasn't the panicked maniac she normally had in her care. "Blood everywhere, I threw up blood, and it was coming from my nose. I'm dying aren't I?"

"Yes," Karen confirmed wondering if that would set him into a panic.

"Why?" Rimmer asked the question that Karen couldn't fully answer. "I cannot think of anything I did. Was it the Titan mushrooms? That's the only thing I can think of, but they shouldn't have a delayed reaction like this."

"You have radiation poisoning, and a high does in a short amount of time. We're still trying to locate the section of the ship where you were contaminated."

"The only thing I did out of the ordinary from my normal maintenance was a drive plate I repaired. Petrovich assigned the task to me. I can't remember where. Can I go to sleep now, I'm tired?"

"Is there anything to make you more comfortable?" Karen stood up, fussing over his blankets.

"Can I listen to my Hammond organ music mix?" Rimmer asked.

"Of course. Anything else?" Holly put Rimmer's music mix on in the background as soon as Karen confirmed he could have the music.

"Just sleep."

 "You can sleep now." Karen sighed deeply when Rimmer drifted to sleep. With the ship still in lock down she didn't have anyone else in the medibay currently.

 "This music isn't that bad," Karen admitted to Rimmer, wondering what else he liked. She'd never got a chance to know him despite being one of her most frequent patients.

"This is a mix or Arn playing," Holly informed her.

"I didn't know he could play." Karen brushed her hand's through Rimmer's hair. It seemed to relax him slightly and sleep better.

"He's a very creative person," Holly told her all about the things that Rimmer during his shifts and in his room alone. "He has books filled with how he wished his day had gone, especially when it went horribly bad. He's more intelligent than everyone assumes as well, he's the only one I know who's memorised all the ships regulations."

"Why isn't he in one of the other streams, such as a console officer? He's not a horrible technician, but he's not a good one either."

"Because Captain Hollister does not like him and doesn't want to work in close quarters with Rimmer. Rimmer notices faults that other people do now, he follows regulations as closely as possible. His issues, no one has ever bothered to look at. Considerations are meant to be made for people with learning disorders, yet they never were for him. He was pushed aside into a corner to be forgotten."

 

Rimmer's comment about drive plate maintenance had located the radiation leak which had been contained. The lockdown had been lifted, and the crew had been informed that Rimmer was ill and if they wished to visit him they could.

She had Lister's crew of friends, minus Lister stop by, but Karen hadn't allowed them to visit. They were angry at Rimmer for getting Lister in trouble about his cat despite Rimmer having nothing to do with the cat, it had been found during the lockdown when Rimmer's room was searched for the radiation contamination before they knew the source. Everyone else seemed to ignore the call, either they didn't care or were used to Rimmer being in the medi-bay since it was common for him to be there.

"Excuse me Karen, Sorry for interrupting, Sam said you're busy with a patient at the moment."

Karen turned to her friend. They'd both started on the ship at the same time. "Yvonne, is there an issue?"

"Is Rimmer okay? I mean there was an announcement over the intercom system. I've never heard a ship wide announcement before for someone who was sick and after a lockdown as well."

"He's in here, and his condition is not good," Karen replied. She was continually surprised that Rimmer was holding on when she hadn't expected him to last twenty-four hours.

"Is he going to be okay? How long will he be in here?" Yvonne asked, concerned for him.

"He's dying, I don't think he will last the night." Despite how long he'd held on already, he was very weak, hardly awake at all. His music was still playing in the background.

Yvonne looked devastated. "Can I see him?

Karen nodded. "Can you stay with him until I return? I haven't left his side since he came in. I don't want him to be alone, and I have a few things I need to do."

"I will stay with him. Go get some sleep. I'll get Holly to contact you if anything changes." Yvonne pushed her out the door.

"Thank you, Yvonne," Karen replied. "Daniel Towes is on shift at the moment, he'll be in a few times to check on Rimmer while I'm gone."

 

"Arnold," Yvonne greeted the sleeping man, hovering nearby, wishing that she could take his hand, but worried that it would hurt him since he was pale and fragile looking. "I'm sorry that I didn't contact you after our disaster date. I always thought you were cute. I'm not that great with relationships. I've never had a boyfriend before. I'd never done anything before." She continued telling him all about their date and why she didn't contact him after the date.

Rimmer didn't wake up at all during Yvonne's visit, not showing any acknowledgement. She just kept talking until Karen returned. Karen wasn't gone long and didn't get the sleep that Yvonne told him to get.

Karen checked over Rimmer again. "I saw the Captain. I am trying to get him to release Lister from stasis. Captain Hollister is not budging on his decision. Lister and Rimmer are sort of friends."

"Has anyone else visited?" Yvonne asked.

"It's just us." Karen ran her hand's through Rimmer's hair again, settling him down slightly. "You can hold his hand if you want. Despite hurting him, it seems to calm him."

Yvonne immediately took Rimmer's hand, gently. "I wish I took the chance to get to know him properly. We went on a date one, he was sweet until he had a panic attack. Very different than anyone described him."

"You're the only one not regretting getting to know him properly. I'm seeing a different side of him I didn't know existed. I'm regretting that I didn't help him more. I just got frustrated when he ended up in here instead of investigating why he ended up in here."

 

Karen hated making these type of calls. She dialled the number for Rimmer's family on Io. She had to go through several staff before she finally managed to get through to the Rimmer matron. She had no idea Rimmer was from such a well off family. He was middle class, but middle class on Io was different to being middle class on Earth and most of the other settlements.

"This better be important," the well-dressed woman snapped. Karen could see where Rimmer got him mannerisms from. "What has he does this time?"

"Your son Arnold," Karen told her carefully. "Passed away this morning." Yvonne and Karen had both stayed with Rimmer until he took his last breath.

"Oh good, about time he died. That child has more lives than a cat." Mrs Rimmer replied.

Karen was stunned. "Do you seriously no care that your son has just died?" She had never had a relative happy that their family member had passed away before.

"The only thing he was good at was making people around him miserable." Mrs Rimmer brushed her off. "He was a black mark on the family tree that we couldn't erase. With him dead, I at least don't have to make up stories about how well he's doing for himself. I'm not sure where I went wrong with him. His brothers are doing so well in the Space Corps, and Arnold couldn't even pass the exam for the lowest rank in the Corps. He's in a better place now. Did he commit suicide? I hope he didn't, that will be harder to explain."

"He died of radiation poisoning from a workplace accident which wasn't his fault." Karen struggled to keep herself professional. Keeping her tone firm tone.

"Good, that will work out well," Mrs Rimmer actually grinned. "Is that all you wanted. I've got plans that I am now late for."

"Will anyone from your family be attending the funeral? Either by video link or in person? What do you want to be done with your son's remains," Karen asked, she doubted that the woman she was speaking with would be attending.

"Flush his into space or down a toilet. Why would we attend? We are busy mourning my husband. Why should we mourn a person who didn't even attend his father's funeral?" Mrs Rimmer. "He didn't even reply to my letter. If that's everything, I'll be going now."

 

Karen was frustrated when she hung up. Everything was a mess. In the next two days, the heads of the JMC and some investigators from the Space Corps would be on the ship investigating Rimmer and McIntyre's deaths. All the officers were in a mess from the two unrelated deaths.

"Holly, can you get Rimmer's mail redirected to me with the next mail pod?" Karen asked.

"Mail pod arrived yesterday," Holly replied. "I had it redirected to Lister. He's the person Rimmer was closest to on the ship. I'll give you access to Lister's mailbox."

Karen made the walk to the mailbox collecting Rimmer's two measly letters. One was a parking ticket that couldn't possibly be his since he'd been in the medi-bay with her at the time. The other was a letter from his mother. She rolled her eyes at the titles on the letter. It seemed like Rimmer's own mother was making fun of him with how she addressed the letter. Opening it up was even worse. Dear Rimmer. What type of mother addresses their son's letter with their family name instead of their given name? It was the letter she has mentioned. Rimmer had not known his own father was dead. How could he attend a funeral he'd never been told about?

She'd always been hard on Rimmer, but she didn't realise his home life was such a mess, that he didn't have anyone at all. She thought he had friends away from the ship. McGruder had been the only one to visit him while he was dying. She already knew his funeral would be just another day for the crew, that she and McGruder might be the only people to attend.

 

Lister returned to his room after his stint in stasis. He was to collect the remainder of his items before catching a shuttle to Earth. The air in his room was stale like it hadn't been used in months. He glanced at Rimmer's bed noticing that his posters and news articles were all gone. Opening Rimmer's locker, it was also empty. The room was devoid of Rimmer.

He packed up all items, finding inflatable Ingrid hidden in her hiding place. He knew that Rimmer wouldn't leave her behind, she was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend, practically his wife. He'd seen Rimmer having tea with the blow-up doll when he'd got back from planet leave early one time. Rimmer didn't know that he'd seen him. It was so sad to see a grown man talking to an inflatable doll like it was a real person. Rachael is what Rimmer had called her.

"Petersen," Lister called out to his friend glad that he finally caught up with one of his friends.

"Hey Lister, you're out of stasis." Petersen pulled him into a hug.

Lister grinned, Petersen never changed, and he was glad to see that his friend hadn't changed.

"Did Rimmer finally get a promotion or something?" Lister asked. "All his stuff if gone from our room."

Petersen was grim, as he replied. "I forgot you didn't know, he's dead, happened just after you went into stasis. There was this big enquiry and everything. Hollister and a few of the officers were fired as a result. Chen and Selby both left the ship as did a few others. It's not the same anymore, not fun anymore. I'd leave too if I didn't need the money. The new Captain is this hard arse, can't get away with anything around him."

"How did Rimmer die?" Lister asked. It had to be a joke, Rimmer couldn't be dead. Rimmer was well Rimmer, he existed to be a pain.

Petersen shrugged. "Don't know. Whatever killed him caused that big lockdown, were you in stasis yet when that happened?"

 

Lister knocked on Doctor Newton's office door, glad to see the officer was still the head of the medical staff. So many of the crew had changed in the eighteen months he'd been in stasis. He didn't have much time left before his shuttle off the ship.

"I thought you'd be saying goodbye to everyone." Karen turned, facing him. "How are you feeling after being let out of stasis?"

"Is it true that Rimmer is dead?" Lister asked, hoping that it was a horrible joke of Petersen.

"It is," Karen replied.

"How?" Lister asked.

"Do you really care?" She asked.

Lister nodded, surprised that he did care. "He reminded me of my Gran, would always tell me to clean up after myself. Would give me a hard time on shift, he'd look out for me when I made mistakes that could get myself or others hurt. Showed me the correct way to do our job. I know I gave him a hard time, but he gave me just as much of a hard time.

"Is he really gone? I imagined him there when I got out of stasis, giving me a hard time and having got rid of all my stuff and give me a hard time about how long it took to get my smell out of the room. I thought he'd be there when I got out. He was one of the last people I saw before I went in."

Karen indicated for Lister to sit down. "Rimmer was assigned a repair despite it being out of his experience level. No one told him he needed to wear protective gear during the repair. He performed the repair correctly." Telling Lister all about Rimmer's final days on the ship.

Lister was crying by the end of the story. "Did anyone go to his funeral? I would've gone if I'd known."

" Yvonne McGruder and I attended. No one else attended." Karen told him.

"What about his family? Didn't they attend over the video link."

Karen shook her head, pushing down the anger she still felt towards Rimmer's mother. "They refused to come, happy that he was gone. I did try to get you released from stasis."

"Thanks for trying. It's my fault. I saw the ticket and knew he couldn't do it. I didn't think it would kill him." Lister couldn't believe that Rimmer was gone. He didn't think he would miss Rimmer leaving the ship, but now he wouldn't be able to see him again. Rimmer had wasted his life. He had no experiences, he was in a job he hated, had no friends and never achieved any of his dreams, and if he didn't change anything, he was going to end up wasting his life like Rimmer did.


End file.
